Dutchess Speaks on Suffering From Severe Depression Following Her Time on Black Ink Crew

Dutchess has been through a lot in the past few years but she is pushing through.

The Pretty-N-Ink owner recently sat down with the Sister Circle to talk about her Black Ink Crew past and her future as a tattoo artist. It’s no secret Dutchess’ departure from a show was not necessarily a pleasant one, but she claims that she needed to move on for the sake of her mental health.

“When I first walked away from the show, I wanted to kill myself,” Dutchess explains adding, “I went through serious depression. I went through getting harassment from cast members, death threats from them, people that they were sent to do disrespectful things. They would call my shop…and tell my mother the most heinous things they would do to me when I got to New York. It got to a point where I didn’t think I could ever escape it.”

On her attempts to expand her own brand, Dutchess explains the challenges she faced following her tumultuous time with the crew. She identifies with other celebreality stars saying, “People don’t understand how hard it is to build your brand and for someone to tear it down with lies; it’s the hardest thing you could ever have to do.”

Clearly perception doesn’t define reality and through her upcoming HBCU tour, Dutchess is hoping to inspire students to embrace their black excellence. As far as who she is now that she overcame a lot of her tribulations, “Dutchess cannot be put in a box.” With the support of her family, Dutchess is stronger and tearfully urges “all of the women that have been disrespected, berated, hurt, belittled- don’t let it break you, ’cause it will if you let it.”

Congrats to Dutchess for being able to rise above it all!

Dutchess may not have been on this season of Black Ink Crew, but her shop was when Sky’s estranged son did an interview out of it.